9 November 2008
When Kaduna State Governor Namadi Sambo opened and subsequently closed the inau-gural African Masters Patrons Cup last weekend, his active presence echoed an unmistakable message: Kaduna will be the permanent home for the continent's biggest corporate polo event.
For four days the ever effer-vescent city crowd mingled with an impressive international cast at the Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club venue to witness yet another scintillating display of top class polo by some of the word's most enterprising pro-fessional players.
The African Masters Patrons Cup is a most significant addi-tion to the international polo calendar. It is the first exclusively corporate polo championship in Africa as well as one of the big-gest team events. This succes-sor to the original African Mas-ters breaks from the mould of its progenitor's strict nationa-lity code to provide an expan-ded platform for every nationa-lity and every skill level. Equally notable, the CEOs led the charge for their respective company teams, making it a truly corpo-rate challenge.
Eight teams - from oil and gas, banking, IT, commodity trading, aviation, leisure and power generation - participated in the fiesta. Hosts Fifth Chukker and Tavia Trojan, patronaged by Ayo Olashoju and Kunle Tinu-bu eventually emerged from the two drawn streams to play the final. Fans were especially capti-vated by Tavia's dramatic rally from a four goal deficit to tie the match at 9-9 in the last period. Although Fifth Chukker even-tually prevailed by a goal, it was their opponents that clearly won the affection of the crowd espe-cially the mercurial Babangida Hassan who spearheaded the show stopping come back. Taju-deen Dantata's Titans beat Da-mian Duncan and Muatapha Fa-shinro's Linetrale Trafigura to clinch third place. Other teams in the mix were M.R.S., Caver-ton, Infinity Segments Good-fellows and Shoreline Power.
The raw excitement of wa-tching these teams of exceptio-nal talent go at one another was well matched by the novelty of one of South Africa 's top female players Erin Jones leading the attack for Fifth Chukker. Again, Sayyu Dantata was in his ever swashbuckling element as were Kashim Bukar, Dawule Baba and Kehinde Soyannwo. The mostly Lagos teams also had Bode and Rotimi Makanjuola, Wale Edun and Ade Alakija exhibiting their ample talent to the appreciative crowd.
Apres polo was predictably awesome. The social program, complete with fireworks and premium accoutrements might have been giddy and glamo-rous, but it was the epoch of this unique fiesta that drew the most impassioned superlatives from aficionados.
"It can't get better than this", said Fifth Chukker chairman Ahmed Dasuki. this tourna-ment has featured about 90% of Nigeria 's entire Argentine horse stock and the largest ever contingent of professional pla-yers to participate in a single tournament in this country. This is definitely the best of Nigerian polo."
What is equally indisputable going by scores of foreign visitors from half a dozen countries and the partnership of several blue chip companies including ASO savings and loans, is that Fifth Chukker has again proven to be the ultimate venue for high goal polo and high end sponsors.
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